The host committee included Karen Elson, the model and ex-wife of White Stripes frontman Jack White Derek Blasberg, Harper’s Bazaar editor-at-large, and Sean Avery, the retired professional ice hockey player. By midnight, when the dancers took to the poles, they’d collected more than $10,000. Mickey Boardman, editorial director for New York’s independent Paper Magazine, helped to organize the Eastern Bloc fundraiser, which had a modest goal of raising $20,000. In an instructional video on YouTube, Betsy Hoover, director of online organizing for Obama for America, emphasizes that “personalization is heavily encouraged.” In other words, donors can become creative - sometimes very creative. The Obama campaign has promoted its “Grassroots Fundraiser” platform online, encouraging donors to reach out to friends and connect directly to the campaign’s Web site. Two million of these donors have given less than $25. While the Romney campaign hasn’t put the same emphasis on small donors, the Obama campaign relies on them and last week announced it has a record-breaking donor base of 3.1 million individuals, surpassing Obama’s total from 2008. In this billion-dollar-plus election cycle, online fundraising and grass-roots events matter greatly to the Obama campaign, which has struggled to compete with Mitt Romney’s fundraising among high-dollar supporters. (Only door proceeds went to the reelection fund dancers kept their tips.) The crowd of about 150 Obama supporters was cordial and relaxed, a mix of friends and fashion types, partying alongside male dancers wearing Obama ’08 boxer briefs (or, as one did, an American flag-themed thong) stuffed with the requisite $1 bills. Saturday’s soiree proved that with broad support from new interest groups comes a new breed of campaign fundraiser - a kind that might make some buttoned-up campaign types wince. The fundraiser, hosted by a gaggle of models, fashion editors and socialites, is just one of hundreds of such small, grass-roots events organized by individual donors and held throughout campaign season in private homes or during backyard barbecues. To some regulars of the grungy gay bar in Manhattan’s East Village, the $100 minimum cover charge seemed too pricey for a Saturday night.īut for an Obama campaign fundraiser, the entrance fee was relatively modest, unlike some of the boisterous dancers at the “GoGo for Obama” event.
NEW YORK - Outside, posters of President Obama and the first lady were the only signs that Eastern Bloc was closed for a private party.